Environment: A Plastic for Ecologists

The trouble with modern plastics is that they seem to be as immortal as
they are useful. Plastic garbage bags litter Italy; Florida's discarded
containers clog Bahama beaches. Each year one Kansas plant makes enough
cellophane to wrap the earth with a 15-inch band 40 times; most of it
becomes enduring garbage. Even getting rid of plastics can be
dangerous. When polyvinyls like Saran Wrap are burned, they produce
corrosive hydrochloric acid.

The obvious need, a plastic that decomposes naturally, may soon become a
reality. An international team of scientists, led by University of...